


and knew that somehow i could find my way back

by neenswrites



Series: KuroKen Week 2020 [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Fluff, KuroKen Week, KuroKen Week 2020, Kuroo Tetsurou is Oblivious, M/M, The answer?, grad school, how many first years can i include before this gets ridiculous, not enough
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:13:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23676676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neenswrites/pseuds/neenswrites
Summary: “Today, we’re going to have a guest lecturer from another department!”“Can you do that?”“It’s my class so I’m gonna go with yes.”-Or, Kenma teaches a lesson for Kuroo’s students. His students are not blind. Rumors start spreading.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Series: KuroKen Week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1700602
Comments: 35
Kudos: 479
Collections: Kuroken Week 2020, My favorite haikyuu fics, Work's I've Finished





	and knew that somehow i could find my way back

**Author's Note:**

> and here's part two! i have much more planned for this au (there's a wedding coming up after all ;) ), but won't add anything more until after kuroken week is over
> 
> also i started this out absolutely loathing having to write this, and then i ended up having so much fun! i love the first years so much, and had a blast writing them 
> 
> ALSO i chose Kuribayasha bc i needed on more first year, and wanted another girl in the fic asdkfasdfk hope you like it!!!

Lev dragged his feet as he made his way into class. There were few things he hated more than morning classes. The only thing that made up for this one was the fact that Kuroo-sensei was really cool, and usually really good at keeping his attention.

He slid into his seat at the lab table, and rested his head against the desk as he waited for the class to start.

He was practically dozing off when he someone jabbed in him the stomach.

“Ow!”

“Do you know who that is?”

Lev looked up to glare at Inuoka, but his friend was ignoring him in favor of staring directly at the front of the room. Lev followed his line of sight and was surprised to see a stranger sitting in the front of the classroom. He was sitting behind the professor’s desk and talk idly with Kuroo who was writing something on the board.

“Who’s that?”

Lev turned back and saw Yachi and Kuribayashi joining them on opposite side of the table.

“That’s what we’re wondering too,” Inuoka answered. “I’ve never seen him around before.”

“Do you think he’s here to sell us something?” Lev asked as he scrunched his face.

“Kuroo-sensei wouldn’t bring someone like that in here,” Kuribayasha said defensively. She gestured down to the two again and added, “Plus, they clearly know each other, so I doubt he’s some scamming salesman.”

They didn’t get to discuss the topic more because Kuroo clapped his hands together, and everyone immediately quieted down.

“Hello everyone, welcome to class,” he said with a bright grin. Lev blinked rapidly at the sight of it. “You’re all going to be getting a little surprise. Today, we’re going to have a guest lecturer from another department!”

“Can you do that?” someone called out, and Lev looked to his right to see Kindaichi turning red at his own outburst. Kuroo just laughed good naturedly.

“It’s my class so I’m gonna go with yes,” he said with a smirk before he started waving the other man up. The stranger stood and Lev was surprised to see him in just a simple sweater and jeans. “This is Kozume-sensei, and he’s going to be helping us out with microemulsions today!”

Lev watched at Kozume scrunched his nose up at the introduction, but quickly relaxed his face into a shy smile as he awkwardly waved to the class. Lev felt himself involuntarily waving back.

“So, we’ve got a really cool experiment for you today that Kozume-sensei is going to be walking us through, but first – the lecture.”

And Lev was pleasantly surprised at how much he enjoyed the lesson. The lecture included a lot of back and forth between Kuroo and Kozume, and their bantering was really funny. And anytime anyone needed them to repeat something, they were able to do so at the drop of a hat.

Plus, the experiment was so cool! Kenma had brought some miniature copies of famous works of art that had been purposely water damaged and taught them how to use microemulsions to remove the damage. Plus, Lev had gotten to keep his copy of the Mona Lisa!

The lab report at the end was a pain, as per usual, but that was typical.

What wasn’t typical was how Kuroo had been acting during the lesson. His professor was always full of energy during every class, but today he seemed even more exuberant than usual. Plus, he’d been making more jokes, taking more questions, and was overall in a really good mood.

It was all so weird.

“Lev, did you want us to wait for you?” Yachi asked kindly, pulling Lev from his thoughts. He looked up to see that she and Kuribayasha had both finished their reports already, and then turned to his left and saw that Inuoka had left already. That asshole.

“No, I’m all good, but go make sure no one steals our study table!” he responded, and the two girls nodded at him with small smiles before leaving the lab. Lev returned to his lab report with newfound vigor, eager to talk to everyone about what he'd noticed during class.

One of the last ones in the class, Lev handed in his assignment with a quick goodbye to both the professors, and then he was practically rushing out the doors. He couldn’t wait to meet up with everyone at their after-class study group and hear what everyone else thought about the class.

By the time he arrived at the outdoor table, the rest of the group was already there and unpacking their things. He loudly greeted them as he claimed the last available seat and was just getting settled when Koganegawa spoke up, gaining everyone’s attention.

“So that was a weird class, right?” he said, and Lev whipped his head to look at him. “Like it was a ton of fun, and super interesting, but it felt…off?”

“Yeah, I noticed it too,” Lev said, happy that someone else was thinking it. “Kuroo-sensei was acting different. It wasn’t a bad different, but it was something.”

“It probably just had to do with the other professor,” Kunimi said as he opened a textbook. “Nothing interesting about that.”

“But he was acting _so_ weird,” Lev stressed. He wished he could place his finger on it, but there wasn’t anything specific to point to. “He seemed…happier, I guess?”

“Don’t you see!” Kuribayasha exclaimed practically bouncing in her seat. Lev and everyone else turned to look at her in confusion. “Him and Kozume-sensei are obviously dating!”

Lev’s eyes widened. It all made sense! That’s why Kuroo-sensei was acting so weird and bubbly during the lesson, and why he’d maintained such a good mood no matter what happened.

“I don’t think that’s it,” Inuoka replied with a frown.

“Me neither,” Kunimi added.

“What, but it makes perfect sense!” Lev exclaimed. Kuribayasha beamed at him, and he smiled right back.

“I think they’ve got a point,” Koganegawa said consideringly as he tapped on his chin.

“And now I’m sure that I’m right,” Kunimi said. Goshiki snorted into his fist by his right, and Lev narrowed his eyes at him. “Plus Kuroo-sensei is kind of a dork, and Kozume-sensei seemed cool.”

“Yeah, our sensei doesn’t really seem like the charismatic type,” Goshiki said with a nod.

“Don’t tell me you agree with them too,” Lev accused. Goshiki tilted his shoulder up with a smirk, and Lev groaned. “Ugh, you just agree with whatever Kunimi says.”

“I do not!” Goshiki cried out, though it did nothing to detract from the blush on his cheeks. “I just don’t see why you’re jumping straight to dating! They could just be friends.”

“Friends don’t look at each other the way those two were,” Kuribayasha said with a wave of her hand. She turned to Yachi, who was diligently writing something in her notebook. “What do you think, Yachi?”

“I think,” she started with her eyes still trained on her work. “That this is none of our business.”

Lev opened his mouth to complain, but Shibayama beat him to it.

“I actually agree with Yachi,” he said as he read through the article in front of him. “We really shouldn’t be prying into our professor’s personal life.”

Lev deflated and rested his chin on his fist with a pout. That meant he was still at a stalemate with Goshiki. He scanned the table until he noticed Kindaichi being suspiciously quiet.

“Kindaichi’s hiding something!” he said as he slammed his hands against the table. Kindaichi jumped and looked up at Lev in surprise. “Do you agree that Kuroo-sensei and Kozume-sensei are dating?”

Kindaichi furrowed his brows and opened his mouth to response, but Kunimi beat him to it.

“Obviously he doesn’t,” he said with a sharp look at Lev.

Kindaichi squinted his eyes at Kunimi. “Why do you even care?”

“I don’t,” Kunimi replied quickly. “…I just want it to be clear that I’m right.”

Kindaichi sighed and ran his finger through his hair. “I honestly don’t really care. I just wish we could use out study group to like…actually study.”

Lev shot him an incredulous look.

“Anyway,” Kuribayasha said as she side eyed Kindaichi. “We have three believers, three denialist, and three people who refuse to have an opinion.”

Various noises of disagreement sounded out across the table, and Kuribayasha ignored them all as she continued, “So, all that means is that each group has to convince the undecided that they’re right.”

“And with that, I’ve got to get going now,” Yachi said as she stood up and grabbed her things. She turned to look at the end of the table. “Kindaichi, Shibayama, are you two free right now? I kinda need some help with something.”

They both blinked at her in surprise but shrugged as they started getting up too.

“Wait but I haven’t convinced you that I’m right yet!” Lev said as they gathered their things.

“No, I haven’t convinced them that _I’m_ right,” Goshiki replied as he pointed his finger into Lev’s chest. Lev gaped at him and batted his finger away.

“Don’t poke me!”

“Don’t hit my hand!”

So caught up, Lev didn’t notice when Yachi, Shibayama, and Kindaichi quietly slipped away. He also didn’t notice Kunimi bang his forehead against the table as he muttered, “How did I get stuck with the worst ones?”

-

“Thank you both again for coming with me,” Yachi said as she followed Shibayama down the hall. He looked back at her with a smile and was happy when she returned one of her own. “I would have asked the others, but they’re all being obnoxious right now.”

“I don’t mind, but I still think it’s funny that you think Kuroo-sensei is scary,” Kindaichi said with a snort from behind both of them.

“How do you think he’s not!” Yachi said with barely suppressed horror. “He’s super tall, and his hair is crazy, and he’s so smart that I’m scared I’m going to embarrass myself in front of him every time we speak.”

“Why’d you take his class if you’re that scared of him?” Shibayama asked. Not that he understood why Yachi was scared in the first place. Heck, he was only a couple of centimeters taller than her, and he didn’t think Kuroo was intimidating at all.

“Because I had a friend who took him before and recommended him to me,” Yachi explained. “I’m really bad at chemistry, but it was the only class left that I could register for to meet my requirements – so I needed someone good.”

Kindaichi and Shibayama both nodded sympathetically. Shibayama wasn’t majoring in anything in the science field either, so he definitely got where Yachi was coming from.

“Well hopefully your friend was right because we’re here,” he said as he stopped in front of the large door. He knocked on the door and watched as Kindaichi tried to peer in from the window high on the door.

The poor guy nearly fell over when the door swung open, and he caught himself just in time to look at the man who opened the door with wide eyes.

“Hey, hey, hey!”

Shibayam was pretty sure Yachi yelped.

“Hi Bokuto-sensei, we’re here to see Kuroo-sensei,” he said politely. Unlike Yachi and Kindaichi, he was a regular at Kuroo’s office since he wasn’t a fan of asking a lot of questions during class. This meant that he was well acquainted with pretty much all the other TA’s in the office.

“Oh, Shibayama hey! Yeah, come on in,” Bokuto said as he opened the door wider for the trio.

Shibayama walked through the entryway with a small bow and listened as Yachi and Kindaichi followed after him. He scanned his eyes across the room, surprised at how packed it was. He could see Oikawa in the back corner, Daichi by the coffee, and even Ushijima – who was almost never in the office – sitting at his desk. He was so distracted that by the time he made it to Kuroo’s desk, he was completely taken back by the person sitting on top of it.

“Kozume-sensei?”

The man turned his head to them in shock, eyes wide and eyebrows raised.

“Um, hello?”

“Don’t tell me you forgot what my students look like already?” Kuroo said with a teasing grin. He made his smile more welcoming as he turned to greet his students. “So, what did you need help—”

“Kozume-sensei, I didn’t know you worked in this office too?” Shibayama asked in confusion. He didn’t mean to interrupt his professor, but he came into the office all the time and he think he would’ve remembered seeing Kozume.

“You can just call me Kozume-san, I’m not actually your professor,” Kenma said as he tucked his hair behind his ear. “And I don’t work in this office. I was just…visiting.”

“Which is technically not allowed,” a voice called out from across the room.

“Oikawa you bring someone in here to gossip with every other day!”

“Kuro, the students,” Kenma said with a sigh. Shibayama blinked at the nickname. Kenma slid off the desk and squeezed Kuroo’s shoulder before he began making his way towards the back of the room. “I’ll go keep Oikawa company.”

Shibayama watched as Kuroo smiled fondly at the man as he made his way across the room. He turned back to his students, but affection was still written all over his face.

“So, what did you all need?”

They all stood there in silence until Shibayama came to his senses and gently elbowed Yachi.

“Right,” she squeaked. “Um, I was wondering – or have been wondering really – if I could be allowed to interview you for a class of mine?”

Kuroo’s eyebrows shot up, and Yachi started speaking much more rapidly.

“Not you have to, of course! I just have this assignment, it’s a really small one anyway, and I need to find someone – anyone really – who’s was working on a secondary degree and you’re my only professor who's in grad student, but I can totally find another one if you don’t have the time! Which is fine! It’s not that big a deal—”

“Yachi, breathe,” Kuroo said with a chuckle. Shibayama watched as she unsteadily inhaled and wondered how on earth she'd managed to keep talking for so long. “I don’t have time right this moment, but we can definitely schedule time for you to come by the office later this week.”

“Oh really!” Yachi asked, relief evident in her voice. “Thank you so, so much, Kuroo-sensei.”

“It’s really no problem, let me just grab my planner,” he said, opening the top drawer of his desk. He pulled out a planner, opened it to the current week, and then froze. Shibayama shot an uncertain look to Kindaichi before sneaking a look down to see what was written.

He skimmed his eyes across the page until he noticed writing that didn’t match the rest. There, on today’s date at around 6 pm were the words, ‘thank you dinner with Kenma at The Old Cat'. There was a small drawing of a cat next to it, and Shibayama looked up to see Kuroo looking across the room at Kozume-san with near hearts in his eyes.

“Sorry,” Kuroo said as he cleared his throat. He was clearly fighting back a smile as he looked back up to them. “These are the days this week that I’m free…”

Shibayama watched silently as Kuroo worked out a time to meet with Yachi. He glanced at Kindaichi, is was met with the same curiosity that he was sure was reflected in his own eyes.

Once Yachi finished, they all said their goodbyes and made their way out of the office as quickly as possible. They walked together aimlessly in silence, until Kindaichi suddenly stopped.

“Okay, so are we just going to pretend like that didn’t happen?”

“Oh, I’m so glad you said something,” Yachi breathed. “We all saw the planner, right?”

“Kenma has to be Kozume-san,” Shibayama added. “It couldn’t be anyone else based off what we’ve seen.”

“But we’ve never actually seen Kuroo-sensei with anyone else though, so we can’t really be sure,” Yachi replied as she brought her fist to her chin. Shibayama immediately shook his head at her.

“No, _you_ haven’t seen him other people, I have though – I’ve been to his office lots before,” Shibayama reminded them. “I’ve seen him interact with all the other TAs but I’ve never seen him look at any of them like _that_.”

“But I mean, Kunimi was really convinced that they weren’t dating though,” Kindaichi said feebly. “Maybe Kuroo-sensei just always has a guest lecturer or two that comes into class…”

“A guest lecture who takes him out to dinner?” Shibayama asked in disbelief. He immediately then closed his eyes and shook his head. “No, wait, this isn’t any of our business, remember?”

“I mean…” Yachi started hesitantly, and Shibayama gave her a betrayed look. She was his biggest ally in this! “You have to admit, it is a little interesting.”

“Even if it is, it doesn’t mean we’re entitled to knowing,” Shibayama scolded. He was met with two pleading gazes, and he wavered a bit. “…I mean it’s not like we’d have any way of knowing if this guy is just a routine guest lecturer or not.”

“You don’t have to know that if you have eyes,” Kindaichi murmured under his breath. Shibayama turned to glare at him, but Yachi’s gasp pulled both their attentions to her.

“Oh!” she said with a snap of her finger. “We can call my friend, the one who took his class before, and ask him if Kuroo-sensei just does stuff like this. We’re really close so he shouldn’t mind too much.”

Shibayama looked to Kindaichi and they both turned to Yachi with sharp nods. She smiled until she realized how expectant their gazes were.

“What, right now?”

“We might as well,” Shibayama said with a shrug. “Just call them and put them on speaker.”

Yachi frowned lightly at them, but she listened none the less. They all gathered around her phone as she dialed the number and turned the phone so everyone could speak if they wanted to. After just a few moments of dialing, someone picked up.

“Hello? Yachi?”

“Tsukishima!” Yachi greeted. “Thank so much for answering, I know this is kind of out of nowhere. Oh, I have you on speaker by the way!”

A pause.

“I’m hanging up.”

“No, Tsukishima wait!” Yachi said quickly, waving her hand at the phone as if it could stop her friend. “It’s just some other students who are in Kuroo-sensei’s class with me. We just had a quick question.”

Shibayama listened as the guy on the phone gave a long-suffering sigh, and he raised his eyebrows. This was one of Yachi’s closest friends?

“Fine, what do you need?”

“Did Kuroo-sensei ever bring a guest lecturer to class when you took him?”

“What?” Tsukishima asked flatly. “It’s an Intro to Chemistry class. Of course, he didn’t bring a guest lecturer. Why would you ask that?”

“Because he did for us!” Kindaichi exclaimed. He looked sheepishly at the phone before quickly adding, “My name is Kindaichi, by the way. Hi.”

“He did?” Tsukishima asked in disbelief, completely ignoring Kindaichi’s introduction. “For what?”

“It was for our microemulsions unit,” Yachi answered before biting her lip. “Tsukishima…are you sure you just didn’t forget?”

“His name is Kozume-san if that jogs your memory. I think his first name was Kenma?” Shibayama finally spoke up. He was about to properly introduce himself when the sound of loud rustling came from the phone. There was a gasp, the sound of what he assumed was the phone dropping, a grunt, and then a new voice was talking to them.

“ _Kozume Kenma_?” the voice asked excitedly. “Are you sure that was his name?”

“Yamaguchi? Tsukishima, did you have _us_ on speaker?”

“Sorry Yachi, we were studying when you called and I was nosey,” the voice – Yamaguchi – apologized. “But back to more important things – Tsukki wait, no – sorry, you’re sure that was his name?”

“Um, that’s his last name for sure,” Shibayama answered, so confused about the turn of events. “I think his first name was Kenma. I read the name from his,” Kindaichi and Yachi immediately began shaking their heads at him, “uh, I mean I think I heard other people in the office calling him that.”

“And he – no, Tsukki this is important – he taught in your class today?”

“Yeah, he did an art restoration experiment,” Kindaichi said. More quietly, he added, “It was kinda fun.”

“They were also definitely flirting,” Yachi added. Shibayama shot her a look, and she raised her shoulders defensively. He’d feel bad, but when had they confirmed anything about flirting?

“Oh my god, Tsukki this means you owe me dinner!”

There was the sound of grappling again, and this time Shibayama heard Tsukishima distantly say, “I don’t owe you shit this doesn’t mean anything!” Laughter echoed from the phone, followed soon after by what sounded suspiciously like a door slamming shut before Yamaguchi spoke up again.

“Yachi, you just met Kuroo-san’s boyfriend,” Yamaguchi said quickly, clearly out of breath. Another sound, this time a much larger thud, and then, “Sorry, gotta go bye!”

And then he ended the call.

The three of them stared at the phone in disbelief.

“So…this means that Koganegawa was right?” Kindaichi said incredulously.

“No, even worse,” Shibayama responded gravely. “It means that Lev was right.

-

Kuroo was practically skipping as he made his way to The Old Cat.

He had been completely taken by surprise when he’d seen what Kenma had written on his planner, but as soon as he registered what it said he had practically melted on the spot. He was lucky he was able to maintain his composure in front of his students, but as soon as they left, he was dragging Kenma out of the office and enveloping him in a hug.

“Dinner at The Old Cat!” he said to an extremely bewildered Kenma as he released him. Kenma’s eyes went wide before he pursed his lips.

“You weren’t supposed to see that until after I left the office,” he muttered bitterly. Kenma sighed and then continued, “But yeah, I wanted to thank you for all the help with my game.”

“Okay first of all you didn’t have to do that,” Kuroo replied as he pointed his finger at Kenma. “If anything, it’s me who should be thanking you for coming into class today! I could tell that all my students loved you.”

“No, I really need to thank you,” Kenma replied, biting his lip to hold back a smile. “I submitted my game proposal at work, and it got approved.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth was Kuroo scooping him into an even bigger hug, practically lifting Kenma off his feet.

“Oh, my goodness, that’s incredible Kenma,” he exclaimed as he settled him back on the ground. He brought his hands up to squeeze at Kenma’s shoulders and beamed at him. “I’m so proud of you. Okay, there’s no way I’m letting you pay for this, this is a celebratory dinner now.”

“No, it’s still a thank you dinner,” Kenma said as he rolled his eyes. “You really helped me with the concept behind the game, and there’s no way it would’ve been approved without your help.” Kuroo opened his mouth to protest, but Kenma shot him a silencing look. “I mean it, Kuro. You can take me out for a celebratory dinner this weekend, okay?”

And now Kuroo was about to have dinner with the man of his dreams as they celebrated a job well done. Plus, since it was just the game proposal and lots of things still had to be done, Kuroo would still be able to work with Kenma on the idea. Kenma had also practically guaranteed that his boss would hire Kuroo on as a consultant for the development team – a super low maintenance job with a super nice-looking paycheck. Everything was practically a dream.

Now if he could only gather the courage to ask Kenma on a date.

It wasn’t like Kuroo didn’t want to ask him, but he honestly couldn’t find the time. What with working on his lesson plan with Kenma, shopping with him for all the materials they needed, and helping him come up with his draft proposal, he didn’t really have the opportunity to ask him.

Plus, now that they were about to work together, Kuroo didn’t want to ask Kenma out only to be rejected and have everything become awkward between them. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure where Kenma stood with him, and the last he wanted was to make him uncomfortable.

So for now, he would just have to settle for enjoying the dinner that Kenma was treating him to at his favorite restaurant.

Finally arriving at said restaurant, he nearly tripped over himself at the sight of Kenma waiting for him.

“You clean up nice,” Kenma greeted him with a small grin. Kuroo practically swooned.

“You look incredible,” Kuroo replied as he looked him up and down. He’d never really seen Kenma in anything formal before, and he definitely hoped he’d get the opportunity to see it again.

Kenma’s smiled widened just a touch before he was leading Kuroo to the host. It was a nice evening out, so they agreed to an outdoor table, and Kuroo was so glad that they did. Sitting here with the sunset shining on Kenma and making him glow was the best thing he could ever ask for.

They made light conversation as they waited for the server to come take their drinks orders, but almost right after he came by, Kenma’s phone began to ring. He looked down at it with a frown.

“I’m so sorry, I think I have to take this,” he said guiltily, but Kuroo waved him off.

“It’s completely fine, go take care of it,” Kuroo assured him, and Kenma shot him a grateful look. He stood and answered the phone as he began walking away, and Kuroo watched his back with a smile.

“Kuroo-sensei?”

Kuroo turned his head and was shocked to see Inuoka, Kunimi, and Goshiki standing on the sidewalk by his table. A small black gate was the only thing separating them, and his students looked just as stunned as he did.

“Oh, hey guys,” he greeted, doing his best to hide his confusion. He never would have expected these three to hang out outside of class. “How are you?”

“Uh, good,” Inuoka said, staring at the empty spot across from Kuroo with a furrowed brow. “How about you?”

“Not too bad,” Kuroo replied, not sure how to handle the strange atmosphere around them.

“Well while we’ve got you here,” Kunimi spoke up in a bored tone. “Could we ask you a quick question about the reading?”

Kuroo bit his lip. He didn’t want to turn away his students, but he really didn’t want to talk about academic things while he was on his off time. Before he could come to a decision though, Kenma was returning to the table.

“Sorry, my mom rarely calls so I figured it was something important,” he said as he approached before he registered the sight of his student. “Oh. Um. Hi.”

“Sorry, they saw me and had a quick question for me,” Kuroo explained with a guilty smile. Kenma just shook his head at him.

“I needed to stop by the restroom anyway, feel free to chat with them,” he replied. He gently pressed his hand against Kuroo’s before heading inside the restaurant and Kuroo sighed happily.

He turned back to his students with a smile, but it quickly dropped as he saw the look of horror across all their faces.

“Whoa, what’s wrong with you all?”

“I am so sorry Kuroo-sensei,” Goshiki said as he bowed deeply. “I never should have doubted your charisma.”

“Stand back up you idiot,” Kunimi hissed at him, but his anger wasn’t enough to hide the embarrassed flush on his face.

Kuroo was so confused.

“You should’ve told us you were in the middle of a date with your boyfriend,” Inuoka said, and Kuroo stopped breathing. “We never would have stopped and interrupted you.”

Kuroo was sure he could see their mouths moving more, words likely coming out, but all he could hear was the ringing in his ears.

Was this a date?

“We’ll get out of your hair now Kuroo-sensei,” Inouka said with a small bow. Kunimi followed his lead and dragged Goshiki with them by his wrist.

And just like that, after wreaking havoc on his mind, they disappeared.

And Kuroo was left to wonder if he was currently on a date.

But it couldn’t be a date! Kuroo would know if this was a date. Kenma had just wanted to take Kuroo out as a thank you for all his help and picked his favorite restaurant to drive home his thanks. Sure, it was a little fancier than their meetings at the coffee shop, but it was essentially the same thing.

Wait.

Holy shit.

Have they been dating? Were they currently dating?

“Sorry I took a while, I had trouble finding the restroom.”

Kuroo jumped in his seat as Kenma returned. The man shot him a quizzical look at his reaction but didn’t mention it.

“What did your students want to talk to you about?”

“How about,” Kuroo replied with a long sigh. “We don’t mention any of my students for the next 24 hours.”

Kenma’s eyebrows rose high on his face, but he again didn’t comment and simply took a sip from his drink. He was the best.

And quite possible dating Kuroo.

Ugh, he needed to get his mind off this.

“So, tell me about the other characters in your game,” Kuroo said as he slapped his thighs with his hand. “Is there one based off Bokuto, too?”

Kenma shot him an unimpressed look but did humor Kuroo with the description of some of the characters he hadn’t had to opportunity to show him yet. Soon Kuroo wasn’t just using the conversation as a distraction and was engaging with Kenma in everything he was saying.

The entire incident with his students slipped his mind until the check came around. Then it was all he could think about.

“You really don’t have to pay,” Kuroo insisted for the nth time. Kenma gave him the same exasperating look he’d been giving him for the past five minutes. “I really don’t mind splitting the check.”

“Kuro, I’m not letting you pay for this,” Kenma replied with a groan. “I don’t know how many times I need to remind you that this is a thank you dinner. So, let me thank you.”

“But this place is so expensive!”

“Yes, I know, I’m the one who chose it,” Kenma deadpanned. He placed his card in the check just as the waiter was passing by, and the man picked it up without a second glance. Kuroo pouted at him for his sneakiness, and Kenma just rolled his eyes. “I said you could take me out this weekend, remember? Pay me back then.”

And Kenma had said that earlier. And that just presented a whole new problem to the scenario.

Did Kenma already think they were dating?

It was one thing for the two of them both to have accidentally fallen into dating each other. Sure, it would be a little nerve wrecking to broach the topic with him, but once they realized it together, they’d probably laugh it off, kiss, and live happily ever after for the rest of their lives.

But if Kuroo was the only one who was unaware of the fact that they were dating, then that would be a whole different scenario.

On the one hand, his heart was practically soaring because that meant that Kenma liked him back! Kenma liked him back enough to date him, and take him to dinner, and go shopping with him, and probably liked him as much as Kuroo like Kenma.

On the other hand, bringing up the fact that he had no idea they’d been dating would probably be the most embarrassing thing in his entire life. Kenma might even feel hurt that Kuroo had caught on yet, and then that’d become an issue in and of itself.

So now he was stuck between saying something and making a huge fool of himself, or not saying anything and maintaining everything as they were. As they were meaning Kuroo unsure of his status with Kenma, or if he cared about Kuroo like Kuroo cared about him, and not knowing if he would ever get the chance to show Kenma just how special he thought he really was.

Kuroo frowned at the thought.

“Is everything alright?” Kenma asked, his eyebrows bunching in worry. “I didn’t mean to upset you about the check…”

“No, no you’re completely fine,” Kuroo assured with a half-smile. “I’ve just got a lot on mind is all.”

Kenma nodded slowly, and looked like he wanted to say something more, but the waiter came back to return the card and thank them for dining with them. As they both rose from their seat, Kenma gently grabbed Kuroo’s arm and looked at him with a questioningly look in his eyes.

“Walk me home?”

And oh, wasn’t that a sentence worth obsessing over.

He agreed, obviously, but the entire time he was overanalyzing his every move. Was he talking too much, or was this how he always talked? That was the third time their fingers had brushed, did Kenma want him to hold his hand? And wow, Kenma looked really nice with his hair down like that, but he really wanted to tuck some of his hair behind his ear, was he allowed to do that?

All of these thoughts were driving Kuroo crazy, and by the time they reached the front of Kenma’s apartment complex, he couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“I need to ask you something,” he started slowly, making sure to maintain Kenma’s gaze. “And you have to promise not to laugh.”

Kenma blinked at him in surprise but nodded in agreement. Kuroo took a deep breath and figured he might as well just rip the band-aid off.

“Kenma…are we dating?”

Kenma looked up at Kuroo with his eyebrows high on his forehead.

“Is that a trick question?”

“Okay, so I know you’re not doing it on purpose,” Kuroo started, managing to stay composed despite the fact that he was on the verge of going crazy. “But that was honestly the worst answer possible.”

Kenma’s eyes went wide and his jaw dropped as he gazed at Kuroo. “Did you not know?”

Kuroo’s heart stopped.

“Not know what, Kenma?” he asked desperately as he gently grabbed the other man by his upper arms. “I need you to be really clear with me.”

“Kuroo, we’ve been dating for the past couple of weeks.”

Kuroo’s arms fell limply to his sides as he gaped at Kenma. Kenma just looked at him in complete disbelief.

“Oh, you cannot honestly tell me that you didn’t know.”

“How was I supposed to know!” Kuroo exclaimed, throwing his hands up. “We literally never established this!”

“What else would you call us meeting every other day at a coffee shop to get to know each other better,” Kenma asked.

“So, those _were_ dates?” Kuroo clarified. He figured he was right, but at this point he was double checking everything.

“Were they not supposed to be?”

“I mean,” Kuroo started, before he realized, well, yeah, they kind of were. “Okay but going on dates isn’t the same as _dating_.”

And he knew he was being a childish about this, but this was so unfair. He was not only the last person to meet Kenma, but he was now the last of the two of them to know that they were dating. And then a thought stuck him.

“Wait a minute,” Kuroo said incredulously. “You mean to tell me that I’ve been working up the nerve to ask you out when you already thought were dating.”

“I didn’t _think_ anything – I knew,” Kenma said with a roll of his eyes. Kuroo opened his mouth, about a thousand protests on the tip of his tongue, when he was stopped by Kenma’s hand on his wrist. Kenma looked up at him with a small smirk, and any and all complaints died in his throat. “Kuro, would you liked to come in?”

Kuroo’s response was automatic.

“Would you please be my boyfriend?”

Kenma’ entire face lit up then, and Kuroo found he couldn’t bear to look away.

“Ugh, why are you smooth at the worst possible moments?” Kenma grumbled as he stepped into Kuroo’s space and buried his face into his chest. Kuroo felt like he was floating on air.

“Okay so was that a yes, super yes, or definitely?”

“I hate you,” Kenma mumbled into his shirt. When he looked back up, his blush had calmed down a bit, but his cheeks were still pink. “Obviously it’s a yes. Just a regular yes, thanks.”

“Good enough for me,” Kuroo murmured before he was cupping Kenma’s face and pressing his lips against his. Kenma reacted immediately, wrapping his arms around Kuroo’s neck and kissing Kuroo back even more deeply. Kuroo wrapped his own arms around him in response, and when they finally broke apart, they were both short of breath.

“So, I’ll ask again,” Kenma breathed against his lips. “Would you like to come upstairs?”

Kuroo figured his subsequent kiss was answer enough.

-

As soon as they were at least three blocks away, Inuoka whipped at his phone and dialed Shiabayama.

" _That'_ s why you wanted the three of us to walk by the Old Cat?" he exclaimed the moment the call was answered. Beside him Goshiki still looked shellshocked, and Kunimi looked like he wanted the earth to swallow him whole.

"You wouldn't have believed us otherwise," Shibayama responded, and Inuoka's eyebrow twitched as he heard Lev's laughing in the background. 

He'd never live this down for the rest of his life. 

**Author's Note:**

> my goal for this fic is that when you got to the line
> 
> 'Now if he could only gather the courage to ask Kenma on a date.'
> 
> you made this face:  
> 
> 
> if that happened please let me know, i will die of laughter and love you forever 
> 
> ALSO here is my [twitter](https://twitter.com/neenswrites)  
> pls come say hi!
> 
> also this is based off when i guest lectured for my friend’s class, and half her students thought were dating. we’re not but i love them for the laugh


End file.
